Reject Kids
by reversediction
Summary: Various stories. Second: Nakayama Yayoi wrestles with homework. Genfic.
1. Running

**Reject Kids**  
various stories set in the Air Gear universe

1. Track Team  
_Yayoi, Emily, Kazu, and running_

* * *

She loved being on the track team because it gave her an excuse to go all out. There weren't that many opportunities for that in a public school that stressed excellence per classroom, rather than on the individual. Truthfully, the only reason why she kept her grades up to decent was because that was the minimum requirement to remain in the club.

If she could stay after school to run in the fields with the rest of her teammates, she would do anything for it – even if she wasn't as good as everybody else.

"Good time, Nakayama!" called the coach as she passed the finish line. They were doing individual runs for the team's weekly ranking. Today she calculated her speed at 0.8 seconds faster than last week's run, a surprising improvement that had her pleased.

She slowed down to a jog, heading for the bench, and received a few congratulatory pats on the shoulder from her fellow runners.

"Nice one, Nakayama!"

"Good run, good run!"

"If I'm not careful, you're gonna take my slot in the starting batch, haha."

To that last one, she shook her head. "I doubt it, sempai, but thank for the vote of confidence."

Emily ran up to her, carefree smile in place, and said, quickly, "You're all fired up today, huh? Kazu-sama was impressed too – oh! Please watch him for me, Nakayama? Make sure none of the other girls get him alone. I'll be finished in a flash – ah! Coach is calling – thanks!" Her friend was unusually flushed and excited, a nervous ball of energy.

Yayoi smiled when she saw that the reason for this was standing by the benches, watching the track team practice with bright eyes and a genuine interest.

"Mikura!" she called, waving as she joined him. "Planning on watching practice today?"

The blond grinned when he saw her, a short flash of boyish mischief in his eyes. "I was passing by." And then in a tone that was light and admiring, "You had a nice form out there, Nakayama."

She rolled her eyes at him when he appraised her form suggestively, and aimed a punch to his arm. "Whatever. Emily's more consistent... Hmmm, but compared to the both of us, you're something else," she said suddenly, raising an eyebrow at him. "Any dreams of trying out for track, Kazu? We could use a guy like you at competitions."

As always when his talent was brought up, Kazu turned endearingly, infuriatingly shy. "Nah, I'd probably just choke and let the whole team down." He rubbed the back of his neck absently as he answered her, a light blush on his cheeks. "My gpa's not so hot either and I'm too busy with ATs for anything else so… maybe some other time?"

Of course he wouldn't. This guy is an AT nut like everyone else in the group. "Suit yourself." She tipped the bottle into her mouth and drank deeply, feeling the water dribbling down to her chin.

He was watching the runners lining up at the track, Emily near the middle and waiting her turn. "You like running too, don't you, Nakayama?"

"How'd you guess," she asked, dabbing her neck with the towel. "Or maybe it's just a fellow runner's intuition?"

This earned a laugh from him. "No, nothing like that. It's more like… like I could see it when you were out there."

"That sounds kind of creepy," she said dubiously.

"Huh? Really? In what way?"

"Sounds like you read people through the way they run or something. Like some kind of weird-ass psychic mind-reader or something."

He looked at her with an expression that was half-confused, half-smiling. "Well, if you put it that way."

It was nearly Emily's turn now. He turned his attention back to the field and waved at her when she glanced their way.

"But from a guy's perspective, I guess I just thought you looked great while you ran."

Yayoi paused, digesting this, as she watched her friend wave energetically back. It was moments like these that she understood Emily's long-standing affection for this boy. "You're better at flirting than I thought you'd be, Mikura," she teased, poking his arm. "That was a really good line. I felt butterflies dancing in my stomach and goosebumps running up my arms."

"I was not flirting," he said good-naturedly, batting her hand away with one, rubbing his nose with the other. But she saw through his attempts that he was trying to cover up a blush.

_Cute_, she though, giggling to herself. _You sure can pick 'em, Emily_.

Then the coach yelled GO! and Emily took off at a dead run, her focus unwavering as her running form was spot-on. If Yayoi was being honest with herself, she could understand what Kazu had been trying to say at the beginning. Sometimes, you can determine certain things about a person from the way they did things they liked to do--running or otherwise.

But then Emily always did have a ton of personality.

When the coach yelled "Time!" Yayoi stopped the clock in her head and hummed to herself. "Emily didn't do much better than last week, but I think I would've felt her energy from the mountains."

"I know what you mean," Kazu said, laughing, and he clapped a friendly hand on her shoulder. "I meant what I said a while ago, okay? I wasn't kidding around."

"Yeah, I know," she said, grinning up at him. "You're a really nice guy, Mikura. And fun to tease because you're so naive sometimes."

"Naive?" He looked so comically worried that she could only respond with a laugh.

Then Emily joined them and they talked till rankings were over. When the rest of the track team dispersed, Yayoi took her friend aside and told her about the conversation.

"And you're doubting him?" Emily asked, genuinely surprised. "But I totally agree! If I were a guy I'd definitely think you'd look hot, Nakayama."

"Sure, because of the lovely sight of icky, sticky _sweat_ pouring down my face after a run. Very hot, Emily."

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Sweat is disgusting to us girls, sure, but to guys, it's _sexy_ – right, Kazu-sama?"

Kazu hadn't heard a bit of the conversation, having been engaged in conversation with a classmate who was also part of the team. "What?"

"Sweat. You think it's sexy right?"

Kazu stared, momentarily speechless, and his companion sniggered beside him, and replied in his stead: "Depends on who it's on."

"Nakayama," Emily said quickly.

"Oh definitely hot," was the prompt reply.

"I'm right here, you know," Yayoi deadpanned, coming up next to the boy so she could hit him.

He dodged with all the quick reflexes he possessed as a track team starter and smirked at her. "Aw, don't be so stiff, Nakayama. It's that type of attitude that drives admirers like me away. Kazu, you agree right?"

"On what?" Kazu asked, trying to hide his grin from the girl beside him.

"That _she_" – he pointed to Yayoi's sour face – "is something else when she runs the field, but when she's off it she turns into a total shrew."

"Er, it wouldn't be in my best interests to answer to the shrew thing."

"Smart decision, Mikura," Nakayama said, looking dangerous.

"But yeah, I've already told you before, Nakayama," Kazu continued, "You look really good when you run."

"There you go," said the other boy before turning to Yayoi. "You just need to loosen up a little, you know? Be more carefree, like Adachi over here." He moved over to where Emily was walking and slung an arm around her.

Laughing, Emily pushed him away. "Nice try, Hanada, but do that again and I'll probably have to break your arm," she said, cheerful and probably meaning it, before she inched closer to Kazu and locked her fingers behind her back. "I'll only allow one guy to do that, and this one is enough for me."

While Kazu looked at her and smiled inquiringly, Yayoi covered her smile with her hand.

"Lucky guy," Hanada said, catching the gist of it, eyeing Kazu expressively. "Well, I'll catch you guys later. Need to drop by the faculty for something." They parted ways and he said, before they were out of hearing range, "You should run more like you did in rankings, Nakayama! Who cares about starting – sweat is _definitely_ sexy!"

Yayoi rolled her eyes at him as he disappeared inside the nearest building.

"Hanada's got quite the mouth," she commented as the three of them headed for their classroom. "Remind me to never run for a Kogarasumaru training day, Emily."

"Why not? You'll be showing the guys what you're made of!"

"That's why she probably shouldn't do it," said Kazu, thinking of his friends and how they usually reacted to the members of the opposite sex. Come to think of it, since Ikki had said something about staying behind for an impromptu Kogarasumaru meeting or something, the rest of them should still be in the classroom…

His eyes wandered over to the girls' sweat-soaked track uniforms, their exposed legs, their pinned-up hair, and gulped, forcing himself to look up. _Sweat is definitely sexy!_ echoed Hanada's voice in his head. Curse you, Hanada.

"Hey, um…" He stopped and faced them and fumbled for the right words. "Maybe you two should change first before we head over to the classrooms."

"Huh? Why?"

Adachi was all innocent confusion, but Nakayama looked like she suspected something.

"You ah, you must be uncomfortable right? How about taking a shower before coming to the meeting? I'm sure Ikki won't mind."

"You're so thoughtful, Kazu-sama," Emily smiled winningly. "Honestly, I was feeling a little itchy – so much for sweat being sexy, huh?"

"Great! Uh, so you guys need anything from the classroom? I can bring your bags to the girl's locker room if you need 'em."

"Oh I see," said Yayoi, skepticism replaced by shrewdness, "You just wanted an excuse to peep at the changing rooms. Clever, Mikura, very clever."

"What? I didn't me–"

Laughter, "I was kidding." Then, lowering her voice so Adachi wouldn't hear: You _are_ naïve, see?"

"We have everything we need in the changing rooms," Emily said, frowning at her friend, "but that was nice of you to offer. We'll see you guys in twenty, 'kay?"

And with that, the girls headed back down the hall.

* * *

_This will be a dump for all my reject fics, which is one of the reasons for the title. Most of the stuff posted here will be kind of rough so some concrit would be lovely from you guys. I've hit numerous mindblocks in my attempts to rewrite this. Sigh.  
_

_Expect a lot of Yayoi and Kazu because I like these two kids a lot and wish they'd interact more. In my mind I think they could be really good friends.  
_


	2. Homework

**Reject Kids**  
various stories set in the Air Gear universe

2. Homework  
_Nakayama Yayoi, pre-tuner_

* * *

Sometimes, homework was something that she liked, particularly when she wanted to distract herself. Granted, she was the type of student who consistently got passing – but run-of-the-mill – marks, so it wasn't like she was on the honor roll. And it wasn't like she was _fond_ of studying, or even school for that matter.

No, for Nakayama Yayoi, school was something more of an obligation, and studying a mechanical means of fulfilling that obligation.

Still that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate it once in a while.

She chewed momentarily at the tip of her mechanical pencil as she thought about the next number of her assignment. For the day she was tackling English and she was having a few problems comprehending the need for so many so-called "parts of speech". The hell she cared about prepositions and conjunctions and whatever else her paper was asking of her.

Sighing in defeat, she wrote a random explanation and allowed her mind to wander.

Most of the chairs in the classroom were empty and arranged in neat five-by-six rows, but a portion at the front had been cleared away to make room for a couple of bags and two coolers. Yayoi had taken a window seat nearest to that area so she could keep an eye on the things. Even if the school was empty of students due to the weekend, it was still irresponsible to leave personal belongings lying out in the open, especially if said belongings included a laptop and extra AT gear.

She sighed for a second time and slumped over her notebook, forehead touching the desk with a small, slightly painful 'thump'.

She was so useless that she'd relegated herself as a babysitter to a bunch of inanimate objects, huh? It was depressing. Every day she spent with Kogarasumaru was turning out to be depressing. There was a time she was contented with staying in the sidelines, cheering her team on and doing the little things for them while they trained, but lately… Lately…

Lately she'd been feeling dissatisfied with herself.

_Okay, back to English_, Yayoi thought, sitting up suddenly. Her eyebrows formed a V at the middle of her forehead when she saw the big round sweat mark she'd accidentally stamped on her notebook. "Ah damn..."

A long, protracted 'rip' cut through the silence of the classroom as she tore the page out and re-copied her answers on a clean sheet. As she mentally read through the words that she was writing down, at the back of her mind she knew that the action had been unnecessary and wasteful. Having to recopy her answers was tedious as she was more than halfway through with the assignment; and she didn't particularly care if she handed in a paper that was pristine white or dark-gray with dirt.

But today she cared. For some reason she wanted it to be perfect.

If she did this single, insignificant assignment perfect then that meant she wasn't quite so useless, right?

One of her small talents was, perhaps, the ability to write quickly, neatly and most important, _legibly_. Maybe she could offer to do Kogarasumaru's paperwork sometime, if they could trust her with something so important.

Her hand stopped its steady pace across the page as her mind latched on to the word 'trust'.

She tried saying the word to herself, tasting its foreign motions in her mouth.

Trust.

Besides Emily, did she trust anyone on the team? Really? When it came down to it they were all just boys who were into air trek, which was typical. What drew her to them anyway? What made her want to give up most of her free time tending to their training schedules?

It couldn't have just been Emily because there was a time when her best friend disliked – no, _feared_ them and their chosen sport.

_I got it, _she thought, with a glance out the window, her eyes immediately catching sight of a group of boys winding down the track field at top speed. _They inspire me._

Inspire.

That was another word foreign to her mouth - but she could identify with the warm, fuzzy feeling that traveled across her shoulders and gathered at the pit of her stomach. When she was watching them do their best she often felt like doing _her_ best. It was not like they were doing any of it for _her _sake, but it wasn't like inspiring things needed to have some kind of special attachment to a person.

Seeing was always just enough.

Curling her fingers together, she stretched her arms up above her head and counted by twos up to twenty, then back. The familiar warm up exercise loosened up the kinks in her back, and relaxed her some. If she wanted any hope of finishing her homework she wanted to feel as good as possible.

After all, the boys would want to copy.

* * *

_Nakayama Yayoi, before she found her calling. :)_

_Reviews would be much appreciated._


End file.
